 Superman will be sold for less than $2 (�1.07) in China to deter pirates |
The US economy loses $20.5bn (�11bn) a year as a direct result of film piracy, an American study has claimed. The sum is denied to cinemas, shops and advertising agencies, as well as setmakers, janitors and suppliers, the Institute for Policy Innovation said.
It used statistics from the Motion Picture Association of America as the basis for its research.
Meanwhile a Mandarin-dubbed version of Superman Returns is to be released early on DVD in China to deter piracy.
Warner Bros said it was trying to outwit bootleggers by putting the disc in more than 8,000 Chinese shops two months before the film goes on sale in the rest of the world.
Each DVD will be priced at less than $2 (�1.07).
The move is part of a larger push to persuade Chinese consumers to choose legitimate DVDs over imitations, many of which are taped in cinemas using camcorders.
"You have to go at the piracy problem with a business solution," Mark Horak, the executive vice-president of Warner Home Video in Asia and Latin America, told the AP news agency.
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